19Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city – Acts 14:19-20 NIV
It is nothing short of sheer terror when a person is thought to be either dead or simply not alive, and then to find out by some sheer accident that those who pronounced such things were wrong.
I think this is so true with reference to abortion. How in the world people can view a baby in its mother’s womb as “not-yet-alive” is beyond me. Although the baby breathes, feels, eats, has both a heart beat and brain waves and responds to outward stimuli, still that’s not enough for some to create a shred of doubt.
Those in comas are looked upon in a similar way. Just because they apparently cannot communicate, must indicate that they are dead. But read the story below and be surprised – be very surprised!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009 (AP)
Helped by a therapist, Rom Houben's outstretched finger tapped with surprising speed on a computer touchscreen, spelling out how he felt "alone, lonely, frustrated" in the 23 years he was trapped inside a paralyzed body.
After a doctor found he was wrongly diagnosed as being in a vegetative state, and worked out a way for him to communicate, Houben said he now feels reborn.
"And just like with a baby, it happens with a lot of stumbling," the 46-year-old Belgian wrote, tapping out the words in Dutch for Associated Press Television News on Tuesday as an aide guided his hand.
Injured in a car crash in 1983 when he was 20, Houbon was diagnosed as being in a vegetative state, though doctors now believe he was conscious the whole time.
An expert using a specialized type of brain scan that was not available in the 1980s says he finally realized Houben was suffering from a form of "locked-in syndrome," in which people are unable to speak or move but can think and reason, and provided him with the equipment to communicate.
Now, assisted by a speech therapist who moved his finger letter-by-letter along a touch-screen keyboard, Houben says years of being unable to move or express himself left him feeling "alone, lonely, frustrated, but also blessed with my family."
"It was especially frustrating when my family needed me," wrote Houben, who says he heard his father died during that time, but was unable to show any emotion. "I could not share in their sorrow. We could not give each other support."
"Just imagine. You hear, see, feel and think but no one can see that. You undergo things. You cannot participate in life," he wrote.
Comments: Imagine being in a coma for twenty-three years? That is so beyond me to comprehend. But then imagine how wrong the experts were who diagnosed you as someone in a vegetative sense and gave up on you? Shouldn’t we err on the side of life when we don’t have all the answers? Who is out there that can really say in absolute certain terms that a baby in its mother womb is not a viable human being? Who is out there that can say that a person in a vegetative state should be considered dead and done? If this story says anything it’s this: The experts don’t have the answers – none of them do.
Paul was dragged out of the city of Lystra believed to be dead by those who were there. Later, he got up and walked away? What a shock!
If there is ever a lesson in the above story it is this: Pro-lifers must never give up on their campaign to save lives of the innocent. It may take a long time (for Houben it took 23 years!), but with godly perseverance, the day will come when the efforts, toils and debates will pay off. Someone will be saved. Someone will be spared. Someone will continue to live because someone out there truly cares.
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